FRAME HIVES. 123 
manship, it may be made perfectly rain-tight by 
adopting the plan recommended for the cheese boxes ” 
—which consisted in brushing hot pitch over the 
bottoms (which form the tops of the covers), as well as 
for one or two inches down the sides ; then spreading 
a sheet of newspaper evenly all over, and applying a 
hot iron till the pitch is re-melted and thoroughly 
incorporated with both the wood and the paper. Myr. 
Cheshire then proceeds: ‘The case being put on, 
shaving, rag, hay, or straw is stuffed in between it and 
the hive, giving a protective covering not to be 
beaten; over this the roof is placed. For the summer 
the case is inverted, four little blocks fitted on the 
inside, enabling it, by two wooden bars, to stand as in 
the second figure. Under the roof comes the super, 
while the hive is admirably screened from the sun, and 
the alighting-board from the rain; and near swarming 
time, when the bees are clustering outside, they re- 
